The marvellous discoveries made in our day by Champollion, Belzoni, and others, may be said to have thrown a new light on the early history not only of Egypt but of the world! Proofs the most startling have been brought to light of the vast political power and high civilization of the Egyptian nation, combined with a knowledge of science in many branches scarcely surpassed in the present and not equalled in the last generation of European nations! In the Egyptian paintings we have the most distinct portraits, representing not only Negroes, Jews, and other neighbouring races, but also of nations whose light complexions, peculiar physiognomy, and equipments, combined as they sometimes are with delineations of the costumes or natural productions of the countries of which they were natives, betoken the inhabitants of more northern latitudes, confirming the account of Tacitus, who states “The Egyptians overran all Libya and Ethiopia, and subdued the Medes and Persians, the Bactrians and Scythians, with the extensive regions inhabited by the Syrians, the Armenians, and the Cappadocians; and by this conquest a tract of country extending from Bithynia on the Pontic Sea to the coast of Syria on the Mediterranean was reduced to subjection.” The evidence seems to be clear that some of the nations with whom the Egyptian armies fought, may be identified with the principal Asiatic nations still inhabiting the borders of the Caspian. “On six of the Phonetic Ovals (published by Champollion) are the names of the heads of the various countries conquered by Sesostris. On one appears the generic name of the Scheti (spelt Sh.e.d.te); on the second, the generic name of the sons of Mosech or the Muscovites, spelt precisely as in the Hebrew (M.s.ek); thirdly, the people of Arakan, spelt very nearly as that name is sounded (as, for example, Ar-rk-k-a-n); fourthly, the people of Casan (spelt C-a-s-n); the fifth is probably Susa, but the middle vowel is omitted, and it stands S-se.”(119) Casan is a Tartar province, conquered by Russia in the 16th century. The Scheti, according to Champollion’s opinion, were the Scythians of the classical nations, the modern Tartars.(120) A conflict between the Egyptians and the Scheti or Scheta forms the subject of one of the most interesting Egyptian battle-pieces, which displays in a striking point of view the high military discipline of the Egyptians. Mr. Wilkinson describes the Scheti “as a nation who had made considerable progress in military tactics, both with respect to manœuvres in the field and the art of fortifying towns, some of which they surrounded with a double fosse. It is worthy of remark, that in these cases the approach to the place led over a bridge; and the sculptures acquainting us with the fact are highly interesting, as they offer us the earliest indication of its use, having been executed in the reign of the great Ramesis, about 1350 years before our era.”